‘AT RISK’ Services Report – Budget Demands 2017/18

Report for the Town Council Meeting 13th December 2016

It is difficult to predict, with any accuracy, what funding may be required to support ‘at risk’ services under threat of reductions or closure by Shropshire Council. The long term future of a number of services (the library and leisure centre included) will ultimately be decided by strategies that are not yet finalised, and could take up to 12 months to conclude (these timelines may be affected by the May 2017 elections).

The library is a much-needed, much-used and much-loved public service. It belongs in the heart of our community in the town centre, where everyone, old and young, mobile and not so mobile, can access it easily. No-one wants it moved to the school. A library in a town in the location of and the size of Church Stretton should be a given, not a ‘nice to have’. The money IS there, it is just being spent on the wrong things. There are always funds for glory projects and the Government finds money for the projects it chooses to find money for. Our library clearly isn’t a priority to them, but it is part of what makes a town a community. It is part of the fabric of our town and improves people’s lives.
The same can be said for the leisure centre. It is madness to be closing public facilities that provide opportunities for exercise and then complain about the growing national obesity epidemic.
Libraries and leisure centre improve our well-being, which ultimately saves money. Simple. Keep the library where it is. Keep the leisure centre.